Founded by Bruno Stroppiana in 1975
in Rio de Janeiro, SKY LIGHT CINEMA is one of Brazil's most prominent
production companies in terms of feature films, documentaries
and foreign productions. As well as its involvement in the production
of over 40 feature films, SKY LIGHT was recently responsible in
Brazil for the Michael Jackson music video They Don't
Care About Us directed by Spike Lee.
Using all the possibilities of the 1993 Audiovisual
Law, allowing for tax concessions to investors in cinema projects,
producers Bruno Stroppiana and Donald Ranvaud succeeded
in putting together a huge budget by Brazilian standards. Columbia
Pictures (Brazil) invested early in the film as part of their
policy of involvement in local productions. Even the collapse
of major investor, the Bahian bank Banco Econômico in the
second week of shooting did not shake the producers' confidence.
Within days they had an agreement with the Banco Real who invested
$1.25 million.
They completed the financing standards with
a distribution deal with UGC, Europe's largest film distributor,
as well as a subsidy from the Brazilian Ministry of Culture and
sponsorship agreements.
Bruno Stroppiana
comments, "The film industry in Brazil is becoming less and
less of a high-risk investment thanks to the full use of all the
opportunities under the country's film production incentive legislative."
Donald Ranvaud became a partner in SKY LIGHT through the
joint-venture Serene-Skylight (UK/USA). Ranvaud's credits
as associate producer include Farewell My Concubine by
Chen Kaige (Palme d'Or at Cannes, 1993) and Alma Corsaria
by Carlos Reichenbach.
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